Goodbye BlackBerry Mobile. RIP 8.31.2020 By TechOdyssey

Hey everybody welcome back to tech odyssey, so today, I'm here to talk about the life and death of blackberry mobile. Of course, they came on the scene in 2016, with their very first phone in 2017, which was a big deal. Of course, TCL had made the blackberry, due, 50 and due 60 devices prior to them, creating this own brand underneath TCL called blackberry mobile. So it was an exciting time because blackberry had decided, they were not going to make phones anymore. They were still going to handle the software and the security, but they kind of handed off the baton to another company which was TCL so that they could make the devices kind of eliminate some risk, because if you paid attention a lot, the blackberry 10 devices didn't sell so well with the very first blackberry 10 devices, the z10 having a huge fire sale, and there were stockpiles of them everywhere that blackberry couldn't sell. It just wasn't very popular, so they kind of tried this out and, of course, that's still going on now, because thankfully onward mobility has picked up the baton, and they're going to be making a new blackberry, which is a 5g device coming out in 2021, which is really exciting, but unfortunately things just didn't pan out with blackberry mobile.

So they made us four devices. There was always the rumor that there was going to be a key three, which I was very hopeful for until they made the announcement earlier this year that the blackberry, mobile licensing agreement was ending on August 31st, and since this is September 2nd, it has now ended. In fact, if you try to go to the blackberry mobile website, it refers you to a TCL website where you can still get some support for your device. Here's one of the nuts and bolts, though blackberry mobile, can no longer make produce, sell design. Anything that has to do with blackberry.

All they can do is continue to support the current lineup of devices for up to two years, we're required by law, whatever that means in the as far as their contract goes, but they there should not be any more security updates. There's not going to be more software updates. I would imagine that this is just only for people who may have some sort of hardware related issue with their phone. They might, can reach out to customer support for that, if they're having an issue with the device, but as far as actual uh anything goes, I mean that is they're pretty much done, and of course that had to happen so that they could re-license it to someone else so, hopefully that that pans out moving forward. But, yes, 2017 was an exciting year.

We got the blackberry key one which I have right here. I have the black edition uh, the first one I bought it. Actually, my very first YouTube was an unboxing video. My very first YouTube video was an unboxing of the original blackberry key one that I shot with my belief. My blackberry Porsche, my p9983.

So it was really cool um. I was really happy to do that because I thought it was cool, shooting a new blackberry, unboxing video with an old blackberry video with no blackberry phone, but this is the black model. Originally it came out with a three gigabyte model. It was a silver model and, as you probably know if you had one of these phones, it had some quality control issues. For instance, the first week that I got mine the screen fell out of it.

You can imagine that I was a little upset about that, and then it went on to the blackberry motion. I got my first blackberry motion, which this is a replacement model that I have, but my fingerprint sensor, you couldn't push the button out. It didn't work so then some click issues with the key with the space bar and fingerprint sensor issues with the key too. So one resounding or recurring theme with the blackberry mobile devices was they kind of had some quality control issues, at least enough that it irked me- and I think that it might have hurt some other people and made people lose a little of confidence, and also we didn't really get the routine security updates. We did.

We never got really much of an operating system update. So whenever the key one came out and also the motion, they were running android 7. They did get updated to android 8.1, which was cool, but they haven't seen a software security update since April of April last year. I believe, so they basically supported them right up to two years and called it quits, and then in 2018 we got the probably best powerful, the greatest android blackberry that has been made to date, which is the key2 and everybody kind of really liked the ke2. A lot of people thought it was overpriced but die hard.

Blackberries like myself, had no problem paying the price tag for it. It was a perfect phone. It still performs really well the problem. Is it just never got the software updates that would have made it much better uh? It started with android 8. It ended with android 8.1, so I wish that they would have gotten us android 9. I was always longing for the day when we would get swipe gestures back in blackberry, because blackberry 10, it's funny that people really they talk so much trash back in the day about.

Oh, nobody likes this. It's all swipe gesture base. It's all swipe gesture base, there's no home button, and now android and android and iPhone on iOS have both gone completely swipe gestures. So it's funny how technology kind of makes these circles sometimes, but blackberry was very inventive and very imaginative with their operating system. It just never got the traction that it needed.

So a lot of features did see their way over to the blackberry android devices, so TCL working underneath their blackberry mobile name decided to do some good stuff. They brought the hub over, although it was never as good as they the natural blackberry 10 hubs, but it was a tried. You had secured route, you had the secured kernel. You had the secured boot up a lot of things that were important to the security element of android, which wasn't totally all that secure a couple of years ago. Of course, manufacturers have gotten a lot better at that now, but blackberry still very much cared about the software and security stuff, so blackberry mobile handled the hardware, blackberry kind of handled the software, and they worked together.

So the key2 solid device still had the touch sensitive keyboard, which of course the Kane had as well. So you had this convenience key on the side. You could program and press. It could be a smart assistant button. It could open up your camera, it could light up your flashlight.

You could program it to do different things and then also the passport started. The whole touch sensitive keyboard, but the key one and the key2 made it where you also had the ability to program individual functions for the letters, so you could press t and open twitter. You could do a short press. You could program it for a long press, so each button had two functions and then, on top of that, you could use the speed key which they built into the key2, which would allow you to open use your shortcut keys inside an app which was a really nice thing, because, yes, if you're playing a game, you don't want to hit t and open up twitter. But if you want to you can hold down the speed key and then hit t.

So they did a lot of cool things. It was a very good multitasking productivity device which blackberry has always been known for it just had some issues, and I think I don't know if that was a blackberry mobile thing or if it was just, they were trying to keep overhead and costs low and still try and make a good experience, but not a great experience, and I think the problem really that left us out in the wind was that they were really trying to cater to a consumer market that didn't really want blackberries so much anymore. So a lot of us really do want blackberries, but blackberries bread and butter. If you will was always the enterprise, the productivity, the professional sector, governments, local government- well, maybe not local government, but the department of defense militaries they were trusted around the world. So people knew that if they used one that they would be secure, that they could be controlled, that if you know you were to use it, you didn't have to worry about your stuff being compromised.

And, yes, I think that was still kind of part of the game, but they put them on Best Buy shelves. You could get them on Amazon, they tried to sell them different places and through certain carriers and people would walk into a store and be like. I don't want this old blackberry with the keyboard. I didn't realize they still made blackberries. Furthermore, I want this iPhone, or I want the Samsung and I don't blame a lot of people because I've been using blackberry since 2005.

It's something I really appreciate. I love being able to use a physical keyboard, but I don't think the business model that blackberry mobile was licensed under really honestly, I don't think had too much of a chance from the start. So I'm hoping that now that the sun has set on blackberry, mobile and onboard mobility and fish are picking up this torch, that they're going to return to their roots and that's what it sounds like you know. Listening to the CEO of mobility. They know they need to be security first, they need to worry about productivity, professionalism, enterprise sector and not so much the consumer market, but also it will appeal to consumers that really want them.

So I think we're going to get a good device there, but blackberry mobile. Unfortunately, I appreciate what they did, I'm glad they kept the dream alive, because when blackberry said they weren't going to make devices anymore, everybody thought that was the end, and it's like when they put the for sale sign up, and they said ah no not for sale, and then they said: okay, we're not going to make phones anymore. So after they had given up on blackberry 10, you know they tried android, and they said nope. The PRI didn't work out. We're going to license this out.

So blackberry mobile played a very important part in the legacy of blackberry, getting us to where we're at now to where it's being picked up again, and hopefully this company will be able to do something successful with it. Hopefully, people will fall in love with this new keyboard device, and it will be successful enough that they can continue to make devices but blackberry mobile. Unfortunately, just wasn't it. The doors are now shut, the windows are boarded up, and they are gone, but a big thank you to them. We got some great devices.

I even forgot. Also, the ke2 LE I have here been kind of the stripped down version of the ke2. It still had a lot of the nuts and bolts it looked the same. The screen looked the same, it didn't have the touch sensitive keyboard, but it was also less expensive, and it had a lot of nice things to it. It was probably my favorite keyboard out of all the blackberry mobile devices, so we got some good devices they're still good for now and if you're out there watching this wondering what is going to happen with your phone.

Well, it's still working right now, so blackberry mobile is no longer, but the phone will still work. It's going to work the same way it has the last year while it hasn't got any software security updates. Android 8.1 is a still very widely used and supported android version. So if you think about blackberry 10, it still has an emulator essentially for blackberry, 4. , I'm sorry blackberry for android 4.

, so having android 8 at this point in time, you should still be good. You can still use your banking apps. You can still use social media. Furthermore, you can still use it exactly the same way that you have there's just not going to be any more blackberry mobile devices, so the new device when it comes out will not be it will not be blackberry mobile. I don't know what they're going to call it.

Maybe just blackberry- I don't know if they really iron that stuff out yet over time it's going to be more vulnerable to security threats, just because it's not getting regular security updates, but as far as performance it should work just fine. It should hold up all right. You should still be able to use it. You can keep using your blackberry, mobile device, so if you're still using a key2, a q2le motion, of course, think of it. This way the motion in the key one haven't gotten an update in over a year, and they're still fully functional.

So the key2 and the key2le are going to be just fine for at least another year. You can keep using it be happy with it hold on to it until the new one comes out, and then you can get a new one. This can be good for a long time, and it's going to have all swipe gestures because it's going to be based on android it'll, be based on android, 10 or 11, so I'm hoping that they can make it very much like the blackberry, 10 experience put a stellar keyboard on there. Give us a good screen, good cameras, all the good things, I'm really excited about what we're going to get with the next blackberry, but this chapter under blackberry, mobile, is ending just like the original chapter ended when blackberry stopped making their own phones, and now we have to look to the future and see what we have. But your phone right now is totally fine.

You can keep using it, keep enjoying it, wait and see what happens when the new one comes out. Don't worry, just you know, don't open any sketchy, emails and download attachments. I mean you would have to worry about that anyway, but I think you're going to be okay in the meantime. But of course yes, you're not going to get any security updates or any of that stuff. So that's just the thing you're going to have to live with which anyone who's using blackberry, 10 has lived with for over five years, and anyone using older blackberry, android devices has dealt with for a while.

So it's still kind of the same song and dance until the new one gets here. But this one will work perfectly fine, be fully functional for a while. So that's all I've got on my story of blackberry, mobile and the life and death of the company and what happened and ultimately yeah it. Just things didn't work out, and they didn't renew the license. And now blackberry has handed this license to another company to trust and to do something great with, so we'll see what happens, we still have our phones, they're still fantastic, still enjoy them and keep using them, and thanks for watching guys.

So if you have any questions or comments about this video, or you want to talk about, it feels free to leave that down. In the comment section, we can talk blackberry if you enjoyed the video, please hit the like and the subscribe button and the little notification bell if you want updates when new videos come out and as always thanks for being here, I appreciate you watching, and I'll see you guys next time.

Source : TechOdyssey